


The Iron Lady and the Magnetic Man

by Lumelle



Series: Eggcelent Adventures [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon), Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dating, Family Feels, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When May Parker has a chance encounter at a store, it really shouldn't be anything that noteworthy. Likewise, when Erik Lehnsherr runs into someone interesting while shopping for grandkid-worthy yarn, clearly it isn't going to be important.</p><p>When the two of them actually hit it off, well, even Peter's newfound sexuality crisis is going to come second in Avengers gossip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

There were times when May might have wished she hadn't been such a good friend.

Not that she disliked her active social life, of course; her friends were what kept life interesting. However, for all that she was always open to new things, there were also times that her willingness to support her friends brought her to the strangest places. Places that, given the choice, she would have never even approached on her own.

Squaring her shoulders, she drew a deep breath and walked into the local yarn store with Ruth.

The place itself wasn't that terrifying, really. Rather, she could rather appreciate the aesthetic of all the yarns sorted by color on the numerous shelves. If it had been just a matter of that, she would have been quite happy to browse the store with her friend.

However, as she had known would happen, Ruth left her side almost immediately as they walked in. For all that she had asked May for company, she seemed quite adept at finding more than enough friends among the ladies currently congregated around some piece of knitting. May tried to trail along for a second, but around the second sentence decided she was not going to be able to follow the conversation enough to get any pleasure from it.

She excused herself from the conversation, and Ruth gave no particularly strong protest. Well. Obviously this meant she had already fulfilled her friendly responsibilities for the moment and was free to appreciate all the pretty yarns she was never going to make anything out of.

May had barely made her way down one row of shelves as she realized she was not the only one taking the opportunity for some uninterrupted browsing. An elderly gentleman, perhaps slightly older than her, was standing in front of a section of a shelf with particularly girlish colors, looking somewhat puzzled.

"Ah, hello there." She walked closer. "Did you get dragged here against your better judgment as well?"

"Hm?" He turned to look at her, and she now realized he was holding a ball of yarn in each hand, one in a rather strong shade of magenta, another in soft purple. "Oh, no. I do fear I'm here quite on my own volition."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed —" Well. This was awkward. And to think she was usually very good about not judging people's hobbies based on their appearance.

"Think nothing of it." The man's lips twitched into something resembling a smile. "I am well aware I'm not exactly a typical example of the local clientele."

"I suppose you could say that." She glanced down at the two balls of yarn he was holding. Skeins? She was pretty sure Ruth had called them skeins, and they didn't really look like balls. "So, ah. You're looking for yarn? Would you rather do that in peace, or would you mind a second opinion? I may not know much about these things, but I could at least nod and look understanding." It was still better than listening to the other ladies comparing patterns. Well. She was pretty sure it was patterns they were talking about, unless it was in fact a coded plan for an armed assault on an evil volcano lair, in which case she would just be disappointed that Ruth didn't try harder to involve her.

"Well, I seem to have reached an impasse." He looked down at the two skeins in his hands. "What do you think, which color would be better for a little girl?"

"Hm. How little are we talking?" She reached out a hand, and he gave her one of the skeins. She brushed against it with her other hand. "Wow, that's really soft. What are you going to make with it?"

"A cardigan for my granddaughter." Finally, he took on an actual smile, and his whole countenance seemed to soften. "She's four months old now. I'm hoping to get it done in time for Christmas."

"So she'll be, what, half a year or so?" She considered the two shades. "That magenta is awfully strong for such a little thing, don't you think? The purple would probably be better. Save the strong colors for when she's old enough to enjoy them herself."

"I suppose you're right. And she does look adorable in purple." This was delivered with nothing but utmost seriousness in his voice, as though he were stating some fundamental fact of the universe. "Very well, purple it is. Thank you for the assistance."

"Any time." She handed the skein back, looking as he gathered up a few more in the same shade of purple. "So do you knit a lot, or just for your granddaughter?"

"I think some would say the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive." His lips twitched again into a small smirk. "I do knit a lot, mostly for her. I wouldn't think of aiming for something as fiddly as a cardigan in two months otherwise, even if it is a very small one. Especially since I do have other things in my life than simply clinking needles together."

"I'll take your word for it." May paused, blinking as she realized how her words might be taken. "Ah. I mean, I'll trust your word on it being fiddly. Not making any comments regarding your general activities, I don't really know you enough for that."

"I do try to keep busy." He chuckled. "And you? I take it you aren't exactly at home here, judging by your earlier comments."

"Not exactly, no. I mean, I admire the results of others' hard work, but whenever I touch yarn, it seems to develop knots. So, I just do a bit of macrame every now and then, myself."

"Sounds like a logical solution." He started walking down the shelves at a measured pace, allowing her to fall into step beside him. "And what do you do besides knots, then?"

"Oh, you know, this and that. Yoga, cooking, hiking, a bit of extreme sports every now and then." She smiled. "I'm actually going to do a parachute jump this coming weekend. My nephew got me a beginner's course for my birthday."

"Well, that sounds exciting." He actually sounded like he meant it, rather than wondering about such a strange hobby for a lady. "One of my boys is into that kind of thing. Always making me sick with worry, falling off places for fun."

"They have a habit of doing that, don't they?" She sighed and shook her head. "My dear boy decided to go into a life of law enforcement. Which is certainly admirable and everything, but now I'm afraid to answer my phone every time something is going on in the city." It was close enough to the truth, in any case. At least he had finally told her the truth when he joined the Avengers.

At least now she knew there was someone who would let her know if something happened to him.

"I know the feeling." He sighed as well. "Two of mine are the same. It's sometimes hard to decide if I should spend my time being proud or terrified. So, all I can do is offer babysitting services when needed."

"I'm sure that alone is a great help." She glanced at his yarn. "Would this be babysitting the same granddaughter you are knitting for?"

"Indeed. So far she is my only one, though at least I have been promised she will have siblings in due time." He hummed a bit. "I find I'm rather enjoying the whole grandfather experience. Not to say I particularly resented the parenting part, but I do feel I'm too old for that anymore."

"I'm still waiting for that part, myself. Not that I'm in any particular hurry to hold a grandbaby; for one thing, he'd need to find someone to have a child with first." She paused. "Well. And for that he'd need to find someone of the female persuasion." Not that she was assuming anything, at least she tried to avoid doing such things, but, well. There was Harry. There had always been Harry.

"Oh, he might surprise you, yet." Again that little half-smirk. "In any case, though, such things tend not to happen without a warning."

"I should hope not. Especially as I don't think I'd be much good at the whole knitting for the grandbaby thing."

"I assure you it's not an absolute obligation. And in any case, something like a blanket requires rather more time than skill."

From there their conversation went on down different lines. Among other things she discovered he was a single father, and had raised two pairs of twins a long time apart. He also had a rather atrocious taste in superheroes, which was to say Spider-Man wasn't his favorite, but she supposed she could forgive such failings just this once. Clearly he had just not been properly educated on the matter.

Also, his name was Erik. Really, it was rather embarrassing how long it had taken them to get to the actual introductions.

Ruth may have given her a rather annoying knowing gaze as they left the store, which, really, was quite unwarranted when all she had done was fill up her time as best as she could. In any case, Ruth herself left with quite a number of skeins, so obviously, she was the one who had gotten more out of the visit.

One little number stored away in May's phone did not even begin to compare, surely.

*

It was, in Tommy's not at all humble opinion, a true sign of his maturity and adultness that he didn't rush off screaming "Freedom at last!" the moment Erik stepped in.

Okay, it might have also been a sign of the fact that he had an infant half draped over himself and Billy wouldn't have hesitated to hurt him in very painful and possibly permanent ways if he'd risked harming his kid by making her fall. Even if she was built like a little green brick half the time. But still, also maturity.

As it happened, he was still lying on the floor as Erik walked in and glanced around the living room. Erik's gaze took in the TV blaring in the background, the various toys scattered over the floor, and perhaps a teeny tiny blanket fortress. Then his gaze fell upon Tommy and Peggy, and he gave what had to be the world's most exaggerated sigh, really, that was just unfair.

"Let me guess." Erik set down his shopping bag and walked closer. "You're all alone here without adult supervision?"

"In my defense, this is all your fault, really." Tommy gave him the best shrug he could manage without jostling the baby snoozing away on top of him. "Billy asked me to watch her until you got back, since you usually don't take that long when you go out for more string. So clearly any and all consequences of my presence here are caused by your absence."

"First off, it's yarn, not string. And secondly, you're more than old enough to manage a bit of alone time without someone holding your hand. I've never seen you cause this much chaos without Peggy. Well, not since you were ten, anyway." Erik paused. "All right, I'll give you sixteen."

"Well, then it's all her fault. I mean, clearly I'm not the one who requires a multitude of toys. Or a great big fortress to protect me. I'm quite capable of defending myself even without very soft fabrics and pillows." Not to say he didn't appreciate the principle of a good hidey-hole, but that was entirely beside the point.

"And how exactly do you suppose you can blame all this chaos on your niece?"

"She's a kid. Kids get bored easily. I had to entertain her. What about this isn't logical?"

"The part where you made such a mess to entertain a child who would be delighted to spend an hour or two dropping the same toy over and over again just to see you pick it back up?" Erik now bent down to pick Peggy up, easily settling the dozing baby at his arm. "And don't tell me it's not true, I get myself uninterrupted knitting time doing just that."

"Yeah, well, so maybe a part of it was to keep myself entertained while watching my brother's spawn. You know, so my head wouldn't explode? I thought you at least would have gotten this whole 'an hour for you is forever for me' thing, I'm the second speedster you've raised and you're not a stupid man."

"Yet you seem to have little problem with keeping yourself occupied when you actually are on your own."

"Yeah, well, that's because if I get too occupied I might get distracted and forget about watching her. And then she'd choke on a random supervillain's boot or something and I'd get blamed for that."

"I do hope you realize this is the reason they actually let you watch her despite all their teasing to the contrary." Okay, what was that smile? He had done absolutely nothing to gain that smile.

"So what exactly did keep you?" Okay, so he should probably at least pick up the toys. Not because he was responsible or anything but because Tony cursed like a sailor when he stepped on something unexpected when he came up in a bleary-eyed quest for coffee and that just wasn't pretty. "I mean, you're an adult and all, no reason for you to be held accountable for your comings and goings, but Billy was right in that you're rarely away for long when you're just popping out for yarn." See? He could totally get it right. If he could be bothered to.

"Something came up." Now, that was an evasive answer if he'd ever heard one. "I know this may be shocking, but I do have other interests in my life aside from my family."

"Oh, I know that, but I also know you don't have any mutant advocacy stuff going on today, and also you're very much a stickler for routine. So, was just wondering just what it is that came up and made you change your habits all of a sudden."

"Nothing particularly important, I assure you." Yet there was a tiny twitch of his face there that Tommy definitely caught, seriously, when were people going to learn there was no such thing as masking an expression quickly enough for him to miss it?

"You know Billy will get all worried if he hears you got mixed up in some vigilante shit or something. You're a respectable Avenger, remember."

"Only a reserve member, I might remind you." Erik sat down on the couch, Peggy sleeping away in his arms, and glanced around the living room as Tommy finished up gathering all the toys. "Not doing anything about the fortress?"

"Of course not, that's awesome. It's totally going to stay, at least until tonight since I'm absolutely going to cuddle Kate in there and you can't stop me. Also, don't think I'm going to be that easily distracted."

"And don't think I'm going to tell you anything I wouldn't mind the entire team being aware of."

"Oi, I'm hurt! Absolutely hurt and depressed. I can totally keep secrets where it counts, you know." He paused. "Also, you have now officially confirmed there is something to know, which means I'm not going to give up on hounding you no matter what."

Erik sighed. At least he knew when to give in. "Fine. Let me amend that to 'it's probably nothing particularly important.'"

"Better, but still raises questions." He dropped the last toy into a basket and then flopped down on the couch beside Erik. "Is there potential for something important in this probably unimportant thing?"

Erik paused for a moment that felt like an eternity, and really, it was absolute torture to be associated with people who actually stopped to think about things. Nobody had any concern for his poor feelings, it was just awful. "If I promise to tell you first if anything important happens, can you keep your mouth shut until there actually is anything to tell? I'd rather not be hounded by everyone for details on something that really isn't worth even mentioning yet."

"I did keep quiet about the egg until Billy got to tell you himself, you know. And I'm rather hoping this is less momentous than that."

"I suppose you have a point there." Erik glanced down at Peggy, probably to check that she was still asleep, his expression softening as it always did. "I merely met someone today."

"Oh? Someone interesting?" Tommy couldn't help but grin. "Someone cute? No, wait, you're way too old for that, ick. Someone alluringly charming?"

Erik actually laughed, and, wow, wasn't that interesting. "Someone I wouldn't mind meeting again, and I'll thank you not to speculate any further than that. I'm mostly interested in the prospect of a friend who is neither an Avengers associate nor so invested in mutant politics they recognize my face before I get the chance to say a word."

"I love how you spend half your time fighting for recognition and then complain that you get it." Tommy blinked, his mind catching on a bit slower than usual. "Wait. Do you mean this new friend of yours isn't a mutant?"

"I feel the need to reiterate I do have a life outside superheroics or my activism. And, as you may have noticed, I am on rather friendly terms with several non-mutants."

"Yeah, people you've met through us. Never seen you get into a baseline human on your own before."

Erik snorted. "I'll have you know your grandmother was not a mutant. Which may or may not have played a part in some unfortunate events, but regardless is evidence of the fact that I do not, in fact, hate all humans on principle."

"You know, if you wanted to convince me there's nothing special going on between you and this secret friend of yours, you probably shouldn't have drawn a direct comparison to the woman you married before." Tommy smirked. "Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut about this. If only because I expect to be the first one to hear about any interesting updates to the situation."

"I can't promise you anything interesting. As I said, I'm mostly looking for a friend."

"Mostly does not equal only." Tommy grinned and hopped up to his feet. "Don't forget, I get first updates!"

"As though you would let me forget." Erik was smiling, though, so clearly he couldn't be actually upset or anything.

This was totally worth getting pinned down by a shrimp who could barely hold up her own head.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik contemplates his granddaughter and his new friend, and then delivers a particular piece of news. This announcement, however, affects Peter quite deeply.

Peggy was, Erik decided as he watched the little girl devoting herself to her newfound skill of moving a toy from one little hand to another, the most gorgeous little creature he had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Oh, of course he had a bias at play here, but then, that same bias dictated he should have been comparing her to the four equally bias-inducing babies who had passed through his care in years past. However, this was a simple matter of logic in his opinion. Someone who had two such strikingly different appearances, yet managed to be quite pleasant-looking in each, was obviously twice as beautiful as her less fortunate counterparts. He was convinced of the truth of his logic, and would argue it with anyone foolish enough to challenge him. Not that anyone was likely to; everyone seemed quite mindful of his opinion about his little granddaughter.

She was indeed his granddaughter, nothing less or more than that. Billy and Teddy had reinforced this, addressing him as grandpa when speaking to her, claiming that they didn't want to add any unnecessary complications to what was already going to be a rather confusing family dynamic for a little child. Erik quite agreed. Their family was not the simplest of things to understand even for an adult.

Billy had later spoken with him, aside from everyone else, and confided that whatever their actual connection or form of address, Tommy and Billy himself would always see him as their true parent. He had even tried calling him father once or twice, something that Erik didn't dislike exactly but also wasn't sure how he should react to it, but then more often than not they were in Peggy's presence so he fell back on grandpa instead.

Tommy, for his part, had solved the matter of forms of address by calling him grandpa in front of Peggy and Erik when she wasn't around. This might have felt like a slight or a manner of distancing himself, but instead a part of Erik found this to be almost flattering. From someone like Tommy, this was the closest he would ever come to admitting that he valued Erik's presence as himself and not simply because they shared a family relation.

Erik knew to take what he could get with his boys. They were all too similar to himself in some ways.

Peggy, though, was turning out to be a rather simple creature so far. She followed the manner of most babies in that as long as she was dry, fed, rested, and not in pain, she was always ready to share a bright smile. He had been on the receiving end of quite a few of those, and all that without dealing with any more night cries than he personally chose to. As he had told May, he was rather liking the grandparenting side of things.

May. Now there was something that made Tommy absolutely obnoxious as of late.

This in itself was hardly worth of note, given the boy's usual tendency to find the best ways to annoy just about anyone, often apparently on purpose. However, he was usually smart enough not to involve Erik in his little schemes, which sadly was not the case this time.

It wasn't even anything he could really call the boy out on. There were no smart remarks, nothing he could truly point and take offense at. Instead, he had to deal with knowing looks and certain tones he was absolutely certain Tommy would have never employed under normal circumstances, and could not even call him out without drawing attention to himself. Which he had always known would be the price of keeping things under the wraps, however temporarily.

He wasn't ashamed, nor was he intending to keep his relationship with May a secret forever, such as there was one after a month or so of meetings. He merely wanted to be sure he actually knew what it was they shared before he complicated things by involving anyone else. They were friends, and had been on what could be called a date a few times by now, and they needed nobody else to push them into anything but the natural conclusion of things, whatever that happened to be.

Besides, if May could handle being around a cranky old man who occasionally ruined perfectly good silverware if dinner conversation turned along the wrong lines, there was nothing his family could do to turn her away at that point.

He knew Tommy thought he hadn't yet told her that he was a mutant. That was as much ridiculous as it was simply untrue. For one thing, he wouldn't have gotten very far in a conversation involving their personal lives without mentioning his activist work, and from there the conversation tended to progress rather naturally to the whys and hows of it. And for another, well. If they were indeed to make anything of this thing they may or may not have shared, he had to get such things out of the way early. He would have rather faced an early realization that the woman he found rather intriguing was not worth his time than gotten himself more invested in the whole thing only to be abandoned again once the truth inevitably came to light. 

He was rather thankful it hadn't come to that. It had hurt badly enough the first time.

This wasn't about Magda, though, this was about May. May, who was whip smart and almost entirely without fear, who put herself in harms way for fun and yet found the time to worry over her nephew doing so out of duty. She was quickly becoming a good friend after only a month or so of acquaintance, and Erik felt quite fortunate for it. And no, he would not complain if that friendship decided to turn into something else entirely. They were getting there, far as he could tell, just slowly enough it doubtless drove Tommy insane having to watch it from Erik's end.

Let it. The boy needed to learn patience anyway.

This was evident enough in the way Tommy was the first to return from the current mission, as always, Kate secure in his arms as he rushed in. Peggy immediately perked up as Tommy tore off his goggles and tossed them aside, shaking his hair free, and started babbling insistently. A moment later she was rewarded as the familiar twin figures of Wiccan and Hulkling touched down behind the balcony doors, Spider-Man following them close by.

"Hello darling!" Teddy's green scales and fierce size melted away into a more human appearance and a bright smile as he strode forward, swooping her off the floor and into his arms. "Have you been a good girl for your grandpa, have you?"

"Oh, she's been excellent as always." Erik adjusted his knitting. It wasn't something for Peggy for once; he was making a pair of delicate green gloves instead. Which was obviously because he needed a challenge and some variety, Tommy, and absolutely nothing to do with May often wearing green. "And you? All the trouble taken care of? I notice you didn't seem to require back-up." He certainly hoped they would have said if they did, even though it might have involved dumping the child on Darcy. She was good enough of an emergency babysitter, provided that it didn't happen all the time.

"Nothing we couldn't handle. Really, it's getting to be quite insulting what gets called a villain these days." Tommy gave an exaggerated sigh. "There's just no challenge in the guys we've faced lately."

"You'll forgive me if I fail to sympathize with your lack of mortal danger." Erik turned his gaze back to his knitting, then lifted it up to Spider-Man again. "Oh, and Peter, while I remember. Someone stopped by with a message for you."

"Oh?" It was really quite eerie, the way he could just tell the boy had blinked even though he still hadn't removed his mask. "Wait. A message for Peter, or a message for Spider-Man?"

"I rather got the impression there may not be much of a difference." Erik shrugged. "Someone flew up here, which usually is the surefire way to either raise an alarm or get taken seriously. Asked for you, but when I told him you were out, he said he'd drop by later."

"Right." Peter frowned. "And they didn't leave a message or anything? Do you even know who it was?"

"I'm afraid I wasn't given a name. A young man, perhaps around your age. Probably Hispanic, though I really couldn't tell for sure; his helmet concealed an awful lot." Not that he necessarily scorned the idea of a protective helmet.

"Wait. A helmet?" Peter stepped forward, looking earnest all of a sudden. "A red emblem at the front? Mostly black outfit?"

Erik nodded. "I believe that would be him, yes. Flies surrounded by a kind of blue glow, less crackling than Billy's? Anyway, he said he is back in town and was looking to meet you."

"Sam. It's got to be Sam." Well. Erik suspected this was not referring to Sam the Falcon. "But he — what would he be doing here? And why?"

"I'm afraid he didn't share much detail." Erik paused in thought. "Though as I think about it, he might have mentioned looking forward to seeing your aunt as well." Which might have seemed ominous, but the man had been just too clearly enthusiastic to be passing any veiled threats. Not everyone operated the same way Erik did, anyway.

"Right." Peter hesitated for a moment, frozen in place, then all of a sudden flung himself back out the balcony door. "Be back later!" he cried out over his shoulder, then he was gone.

"Well." Erik blinked. "If I had known this was such an important matter, I would have told him as soon as he walked in."

"Sam?" Billy glanced at Teddy. "Do you think it's…"

"Sure sounds like it." At Erik's raised eyebrow, Teddy gave a small shrug. "He, well, you know Peter had a team for a time when he was younger? Well, one of his teammates was called Sam. We're not sure what happened there, but Peter gets a bit skittish when he's mentioned."

"Well. Isn't that interesting." And hopefully would be interesting enough that Tommy wouldn't think to comment on the glove he was knitting, clearly the wrong size and color for anyone in the Tower.

It probably wasn't, but he could always hope.

*

Peter was so out of sorts, he only barely remembered to drop into an alley to change out of his costume before jogging the rest of the way to Aunt May's house. It was ridiculous, of course, there was no reason for him to be so frazzled by the mere possibility of a familiar face, certainly not when it was such an annoying one. Even so, he found himself bristling at the mere thought, his heart beating just a bit faster as though this had been some momentous occasion.

Sam was back.

It was clearly just because he at least knew where the rest of his old team was. Ava checked in from time to time when she wasn't off doing her own thing, and from what he heard Danny and Luke were actually doing very well with this heroic mercenaries thing of theirs. Sam, on the other hand, had more or less just vanished one day, leaving Peter with nothing but a short note and a hollow ache somewhere deep within he could never quite place.

If someone had claimed the note had been one of the few things he had packed to bring along when he moved to the Tower, they would have been wrong. There had been no packing involved; the note had followed along quite naturally due to always being tucked away in his laptop bag. He took it out sometimes, reading over the few lines of text he already knew by heart, a half-hearted attempt at a goodbye and a much more heartfelt apology directed at May for leaving so suddenly. He should have tossed it away entirely, really he should have, except there were times when he almost managed to convince himself there never had been a team before the Avengers and there especially had been no guy called Nova who could drive him crazy with annoyance or shield the entire planet from destruction with equal ease.

Sam wasn't even here and still managed to drive him crazy. He probably would have been proud to know that.

Peter wasn't sure what he had been up to since then; probably guarding the galaxy with his old team or something suitably epic such as that. Which was unfair, really, the least he could have done was take Peter along, not that Peter actually would have been able to leave his friends and Aunt May behind for good just like that.

He sometimes wondered if Sam had even paused on his way out or if it had indeed been as easy as writing one note. Of course, most of the time he had been wondering it had been with no expectation that he might ever find out.

Except now here was someone who at least sounded very much like Sam, asking for him at the Avengers Tower and mentioning his aunt. Which, if Peter allowed himself to get far too hopeful just for a moment, might actually mean he was back.

Not that he cared. Of course not. He just wanted to lecture the idiot for vanishing like that.

He didn't pause to knock at the door, instead getting right in with his spare key. Glancing around, he called out. "Aunt May? Where are you?" She was home by now, wasn't she?

"Right here in the living room, Peter!" She sounded quite cheerful, which was always good. "Come on in!"

"You won't believe what I heard today." He strode along towards the living room. "Erik said someone stopped by, and —" He never got any further, freezing in the doorway to the living room.

May was there, yes, sitting with her laptop as though everything was fine with the world. However, there was someone else there as well, leaning over the back of the couch to point out something on the screen. As Peter entered, though, he looked up and gave Peter a familiar grin.

It was Sam. Sam was here, acting as though he had never left, easy and familiar with May like they had last met just the day before and not several years ago. His eyes almost sparkled as he looked at Peter, and Peter found himself transfixed for a moment.

Sam had changed in the years they had been apart. It was a subtle change, but a much needed one, Peter's traitorous mind whispered at him. He Sam was more adult-like now, the way he carried himself more mature in a way that had nothing to do with years and indeed escaped many who would have called themselves adults. Yet he found the gall to stand there and grin, as though he'd never given any reason for Peter to be upset. Which was obviously so untrue, it wasn't even funny.

Aside from the small change in Sam's eyes and his bearing, there didn't seem to be anything else that could have been different from the last time they met. On one hand there was Sam, eyes shining as he looked at Peter, while on the other hand there was Peter, still too dumbstruck to get a single word out.

This was all Sam's fault, too. Clearly he was being extremely distracting just now.

"Peter!" Sam gave him that bright grin, walking closer. Now Peter could see even the more subtle physical ways Sam had changed, the way he was just a fraction taller than before, just a bit wider and firmer in build. If he hadn't had such great self-control he might have literally reached out to touch Sam's chest to feel it for himself, just to make sure he was real, it wasn't like he had any other reason after all. As it was, though, he found himself simply staring.

"Uh. Sam?" Great comeback, Webhead, very eloquent. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. Checking in with my favorite lady, hoping for some news about you, that sort of thing. Heard you found yourself another team to keep you out of trouble. Good to hear you're not utterly alone even without the rest of us there."

"Yeah, well, you weren't too concerned with that the last time you left." It was perhaps a bit harsher than he had meant, yes, but it also echoed the pain deep inside him that was impossible to ignore.

At least he was doing pretty well on ignoring the other kind of feelings that took quite a bit too much interest in the way Sam's eyes sparkled or a couple of strands of hair fell onto his face. Or the very well fitted pair of jeans he was wearing. Because, no, that was not happening, not now or ever.

"I suppose I deserve that." Sam sighed a bit, though a faint smile remained, and really? Sam admitting he might have been wrong about something? "May already told me off for that, if you must know. I have been properly chastised."

"Enough so not to pull a stunt like that again?" And why did he care? He totally did not care.

"I'm not planning to." A grin came back to Sam's face, and for all that a petty part of Peter wanted him to feel bad for rushing off and leaving everyone behind like that, another part made a point of telling him that, actually, a grin suited Sam far better than the slightly chastised smile of before. "As of today, I'm back in New York until someone gives me a very good reason not to be. And no, just the Guardians asking isn't good enough."

"Well, I am certainly relieved to hear that. Peter was quite heartbroken the last time you disappeared." Then, before Peter could recover enough to give some indignant response, Aunt May stood up, smiling at them both. "So. How about you both come help me in the kitchen, and we'll make something extra nice for dinner to celebrate? And Sam, of course you will stay here until you find a more permanent place, I absolutely will not hear of anything else."

As Aunt May set the laptop aside to usher them both to the kitchen, it never even occurred to Peter to wonder just why she had been shopping for men's accessories in what were absolutely not Peter's colors.

Clearly, it was all Sam's fault.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has a rather constructive suggestion regarding the holiday season. Later, Peter wants to talk with Billy about a matter of the heart, but their conversation is interrupted by something very big and very, very nasty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is late because apparently on Christmas Eve it's hard to get on the computer before midnight. Who'd have known?

"So, Steve." Tony dropped down on the very expensive couch simply because he could; he'd bought it, after all, and if he somehow managed to be the one to break it even in a household with people twice his size, he could always just buy another. "Christmas is a pretty important thing or something, right?"

Steve lifted an unimpressed eyebrow from where he had been sitting in an armchair reading, and really, where was the world coming to when that was something Captain America just did at him? "You're lucky I know by now not to rise at your provocations."

"Not actually trying to provoke, though." Tony dug out his phone and checked it for angry messages from Pepper. There were none, and he had texted her at least five minutes ago, so clearly she had no opposition to his idea. Or if she did, she simply hadn't been quick enough to react to it, which really was all her fault, honestly, she should have known to immediately react to anything potentially disastrous he let out of his mouth. "It's just, I got this idea related to it."

"Oh?" Steve's eyebrows only climbed higher. "Dare I ask what this idea of yours is?"

"Well, I was thinking, we've actually got kind of a multi-cultural thing going on." He tossed his phone from one hand to another, watching it instead of Steve's skeptical look, which, really, that was just hurtful. "With the team and associated hangers-on, that is. We've got the Lehnsherrs, and Thor, and I'm pretty sure Bruce identifies as Buddhist or something, and I actually know that one of Peter's ex-team mates does. And then there's people like me who just don't give a rat's ass about such important things. So, for all that we may look pretty WASPish sometimes, we're not actually all that united on the Christmas front."

"What are you getting at?" Steve's tone changed, and Tony looked up in time to catch his worried frown. "Do you think someone might be offended that I insisted on the Christmas decorations? Oh God, I didn't even think of that, that's so incredibly insensitive of me. I can certainly move it all somewhere out of the common areas, you should have —"

"Woah, calm down there, Mon Capitan." Tony lifted a hand to placate Steve's sudden rambling. "No, far as I'm aware, nobody's minding that stuff, and I don't really think they're too shy to mention it if they are offended. I mean, it's not like you're complaining that the Lehnsherrs want to put up a menorah. And, well, being the owner of the place and all, I happen to think it's better for everyone to get the decorations of their choice than for nobody to get them. No, as I said, I was just thinking about all this, and as it turns out, I actually have a proposition."

"A proposition?" Steve blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Simply put, I think we should take turns." Tony waved his hand to encompass both the two of them and the rest of the Tower. "I mean, everyone in the team. Maybe other teams if you want to get some cooperation thing going on. So, we'll gather the names of all the heroes who don't mind working on Christmas, whether it's because they're not Christians or are just callous bastards like myself. Then, anything less than world-threatening comes up on the great grand day, the heroes on that list will handle it, and the ones who actually care can focus on celebrating without rushing off to fight crime."

"That's… not a bad idea, actually." Oh, joy, the Captain was actually agreeing with him! "So what do you mean by turns?"

"Well, fair's fair, right? So I was thinking that those who get Christmas free will volunteer for New Year's instead." Tony grinned. "So, everyone can decide which day is more important to them, and have that free unless something nigh-apocalyptic comes up so we need all hands on deck. And if nothing bad happens, well, all the better, then everyone gets the day off. I just figured this'd be better than everyone's day getting ruined if some asshole decides to ruin the holidays with evil schemes beyond what the police can handle."

"You know, I rather like this." Was Steve smiling? At a suggestion Tony had made? Clearly something was very wrong here. Not that he was exactly complaining. "I'll check with the other teams to see if they want to get in on this. But all in all, I think this is a great idea."

"Really?" Okay, now this was just weird. "I thought you'd tell me I'm being disrespectful or something by implying I think New Year's is more important than Christmas."

"Why? I don't exactly get the feeling you're religious. And actually, I think this is a very respectful way of thinking. Certainly, I could think of this as your way to ensure yourself the opportunity to celebrate New Year's as you please, but it also means I won't have to worry about having to rush out of Christmas mass to deal with a villain. There is hardly anything more respectful than giving others the opportunity to focus on what they find important."

"Hey, if you insist on thinking the best of me, I won't tell you how very wrong you are. Even though you are indeed wrong." Tony shrugged as best as he could while lying down. "I figured it'd just be less stress all around. Also, the part where I can get drunk off my ass without worrying about responsibilities or whatever is definitely a factor, so don't get too high an opinion of me just yet."

"I know you're trying to dissuade me from thinking you're a good man, but that doesn't exactly serve you well." Steve actually had the gall to smirk, the bastard. "Because the actually irresponsible thing would be to get drunk without any thought to the consequences. Instead, you're going out of your way to make sure you can enjoy a party without any potential guilt about not being available for heroics."

"Yeah, well, don't think it's going to work like that. For one thing, I really doubt I'd make it through without feeling guilty if something happened and I wasn't trying to work against it, turns or no, for an egotistic bastard I have one hell of a guilt complex sometimes. All I'm really doing is trying to make Pepper less potentially mad at me."

"I'm afraid you're still not going to convince me you aren't a good man." Steve gave him a faint smile before finally slipping a bookmark between the pages of his tome and standing up. "Thank you, Tony. I think your idea will make everyone a little happier all around."

"Hey, if you're happier with your delusions, I suppose I can't stop you." Tony lifted his phone. "If and when you get responses from other teams, text me. Or, you know, just let JARVIS know. I'm putting together a list so everyone including SHIELD will know who they can call if something does happen."

"Will do." With that and a smile, Steve walked off. It actually sounded like he was humming something to himself. Something awfully good-natured and festive, Tony had no doubt. Maybe one day Steve would realize he was the only truly good man around the place, but clearly that day wasn't today.

Somewhat to his surprise, he found he could live with that.

*

It was, Billy had been rather reliably informed, only one more week until Christmas.

Not that this made much of a difference for him either way, but then, it had been a long time now since his life concerned nobody but himself. He might not have cared much about the precise date, but there was someone near to his heart who most certainly did, and therefore he was actually acutely aware of the exact distance from Christmas. The Christmas which, as it happened, was going to be his daughter's first one.

Somewhat to his surprise, Billy found he was actually concerned about the particulars of this.

It didn't really make sense, he knew that much. Christmas in general was of little importance to him at best and an active annoyance at worst, depending on how much he had to deal with people likely to get on his case over not getting in the spirit of a holiday that had nothing to do with him. Even after he had started dating Teddy, it had mostly been a case of worrying about an appropriate gift and, as they progressed further along the relationship scale, being invited over to the Altman household for a tasty dinner on the actual day. He couldn't really bring himself to worry much about Peggy's experience, either; she was still of the opinion that anything brightly colored was best dealt with by sticking it into her mouth if at all possible, and would not understand much either way. But then, these two matters combined, Peggy and Teddy, made the matter very important indeed.

He might not have ever wasted a moment's thought to his child's first Christmas, but Teddy was a different matter. And the closer they got, the more terrified Billy got of Teddy being disappointed if Peggy's holiday experience was anything less than perfect.

He'd signed up for Tony's little Christmas hero shift. It made sense to him, as he didn't celebrate the holiday personally, and saw little importance in it beyond what his friends and husband placed on it. It was logical, really; this way Teddy and he could be sure one of them could be with Peggy even if something happened on either of the big days. Even so, a part of him was starting to worry that Teddy might see this as some kind of a slight, or a sign he didn't care enough about Peggy's magical first Christmas experience.

"So, uh." The voice next to his ear was sudden enough he might have jumped I he hadn't been flying at the moment. Which, given the whimsical nature of his powers, meant that he did jump in the air. "Damn, sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you."

"Huh? Peter?" Billy blinked, then smiled. "No, don't worry about it. I was just working myself up to a worrying fit, actually."

"And you decided to do that while floating regally above the city, hmm?" Peter lifted an eyebrow at him from where he was standing on the rooftop, not far from Billy. "You know, you really are similar to Erik sometimes."

"I surely have no idea what you mean." Never mind that he was very aware of his grandfather's more dramatic tendencies, and his own penchant for the same. He would have been lying if he'd said he chose to wear a cape purely for practical reasons.

"Yeah, I bet you don't." Peter paused. "So, uh. Were you thinking about something incredibly important, or do you mind if I interrupt?"

"As I said, I was just making myself worry needlessly." Billy floated down to the roof. "Did you need me for something?"

"Actually, I was, ah, hoping we could talk a bit?" Peter rubbed the back of his neck, looking somewhat uncomfortable. "Uh. Preferably somewhere we aren't quite as likely to get people walking right in."

"Oh?" Billy couldn't help but frown. "Is it something serious?"

Peter sighed, not quite meeting his gaze. "No? I mean, I don't think so. More… personal."

"Actual personal personal, or 'I have a villain after me and don't want to involve the whole team' personal? Because if I run off without a warning, Teddy will make sure I actually have something to worry about." It was only mostly a joke. For one thing, it wasn't entirely unreasonable to think Peter might have come to him with such a matter; he did have a rather specialized skill set. Also, he knew himself better than to think he wouldn't have rushed off to help his friend if asked to, regardless of the amount of Teddy's disappointment afterward.

"Personal personal. I'd say normal people personal, but that doesn't really apply when the people involved aren't normal by any definition."

"In that case, how about we go out for coffee? Less chance of interference that way." With that, he let his cape fade away, digging out his phone to type up a quick message to Teddy.

'Going out for coffee with Peter. Want me to bring you something?'

"Yeah, that sounds good." Peter nodded. "The place with the amazing donuts that we raided after the last Wrecking Crew incident? My treat."

"If I wasn't a married man, I'd be swooning right now." Though his eyes remained on the phone, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Peter seemed somewhat unsettled by his answer. Well, wasn't that interesting.

Teddy replied quickly with a brief declaration of the passionate love he would show to anyone who bribed him with sufficient amounts of peppermint mocha, and really, Billy probably should have been more concerned with this obvious evidence of emotional infidelity, but he had to admit there were worse things to lose to. Tucking his phone away, he nodded at Peter, then started to recite the spell to create the appropriate portal.

It probably said a lot about their lives that this caused Peter to relax somewhat, because obviously magic portals for coffee shop visits were so very routine, they would put him at ease.

With each of them holding a caffeinated beverage of their choice, Billy finally looked at Peter. "So. What's bothering you, and why would you come to me with whatever it is? I mean, not that I'm not flattered by the trust or whatever, but I'm pretty sure there are better people to turn to for advice, no matter what your problem is."

"Yeah, well, the thing is, I actually think you're the best for this matter." Peter sighed, looking down at his hyper-caffeinated mess of sugar and spice. One of these days Billy would perfect the spell to get on even ground with all these people with heightened metabolism around him. "It's, ah. Let's just say you're more qualified to talk about this than most of the other people I could go to for advice."

"Oh?" Billy watched Peter for a second. He seemed uncomfortable, almost… embarrassed. And he didn't want anyone to hear, and thought Billy was the best person to talk to… "Don't tell me it's about a guy."

A hint of color rose on Peter's cheeks, which really was all the proof he needed.

"It's a guy, isn't it? Okay, I honestly didn't call that. I mean, I've got reasonably good radar most of the time, but I really thought you were only into girls."

"To be fair, so did I." Peter sighed. "I, ah. You know Nova came back to town."

"Yes, I do remember you rushing off at the first hint of a rumor that he might have returned. And then when you introduced him to the team it was like someone was holding a gun to your head to force you to mention his name. Talk about mixed signals there."

"Yeah, well, our relationship has never been the simplest." Peter paused, taking a small sip of his coffee. "I didn't like him before. Well, I mean, I don't think I did, though now I wonder. But ever since he came back…"

"Ever since he came back, you do seem to like him." Billy nodded slowly. "Okay, first off, let's clear things up a bit. Love or lust?"

"Huh?" Peter blinked, as though this were some difficult question.

"You heard me." Billy waved his hand imperiously. "Love or lust? Is this someone you want to punch out except you're busy staring at his ass, or are we talking flirting over fallen villains and moonlit video game marathons?"

"Kind of both?" Peter ran a hand through his hair, messing it up and apparently not caring much. "I mean, I like him as a friend, have liked him ever since we got past our main differences for all that we may bicker. But I never thought of him as, well, anything but a friend, not back then. At least I didn't think I did, but…"

"But?" Billy prompted. He was trying not to push too much, it was better to let Peter come to his own conclusions, but a little help wasn't ever amiss.

"His leaving did hurt more than any of the others." Peter shook his head. "I always figured it was because he just up and left and we had no way of contacting him, but now I'm not entirely sure."

Billy nodded. "Because now you see him differently. But why do you?"

"Well, I'll admit, there's a lot of lust there." Peter sighed. "Which, yeah, pretty strange to be thinking that when I never thought that of anyone else before, not consciously, anyway. It's just… he's changed, you know? Not that he ever was bad-looking before, I can admit that much, but he actually looks like a grown-up now, and that's… doing things. To me. If you know what I mean."

"I think I had a feeling like that once." Billy couldn't help but smirk a bit, now. "Then I married him." Which was a gross over-simplification, but then, what teasing wasn't?

"Yeah, I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet." Peter shook his head, though he was wearing a faint smile nevertheless. "Honestly, if this was just a sudden sexuality crisis I would probably manage, it's the crisis combined with the fact I don't know how to proceed that's doing me in."

"Well, there's generally two approaches to this. Either you ignore the feelings and hope they go away, or you ask him out." Billy shrugged. "I can't really say what you should do, though considering he didn't even blink when you introduced us to him, I don't think he'd be traumatized for life or anything if you asked him for a dinner and a movie or something."

"Oh, I don't think he'd be traumatized or hate me or anything, just that he'd be teasing me about it long after we both turn gray." Peter looked mournfully down at his coffee. "And there isn't even anyone I can really ask about whether he's into guys. I'm not going to ask anyone else from my old team, they'd just tease me to hell and back for all the bickering we've done, and Aunt May… well. Usually I might ask her, she knows him probably better than anyone, but I'd feel a bit awkward about talking to her about anything to do with dating right now."

"Oh? Any particular reason you don't think that'd be a good idea?"

Peter glanced around, as though fearing eavesdroppers of some sort. "I think Aunt May might be seeing someone."

"And?" Was that a problem? "She is an adult, you know."

"I know. It's just… weird, you know? When I was a kid, there was Uncle Ben. And after we lost him, well… she hasn't done much dating, certainly nothing serious. This guy, she's been seeing him for at least a month now and I still haven't even met him, and I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one. I mean, is she hiding him because she's serious about it and she doesn't want me to ruin anything, or because she isn't and doesn't want me to get attached, or to lead the guy on by introducing the family?"

"Or perhaps she's just an adult and can make her own decisions that don't necessarily have anything to do with you?"

"No offense, but regardless of your experience with liking guys, you aren't exactly an expert in the matter of parental units dating."

"I know enough." Billy shrugged. "I'm pretty sure Erik's found someone, actually. He has an awful lot to do outside the Tower all of a sudden, and then there's the knitting he keeps doing that doesn't fit anyone in the family. He seems happier than before, though, so I don't think there's any reason to interfere as long as that's true."

"Wait. Knitting?" Peter was frowning all of a sudden for some reason. "What kind of knitting? I thought he was still doing baby booties and stuff like that."

"Well, he still is. However, he's also made some other things. I know I've seen him knit a green glove that's too small for Teddy and too intricate for Tommy, and so far he hasn't knitted anything for people outside the family."

Peter's expression turned strange, and he seemed about to say something, except then his eyes widened and he bounced over the table. Before Billy could react, he was tackled and pinned to the ground by a body that, while not much different from his in size, was definitely strong enough to hold him down without any trouble.

Then, the windows exploded with fire.

Screams and panic filled the coffee shop even as Billy scrambled up to his feet, looking around. It seemed only the couple of windows nearest to them had been affected, and nobody was sitting nearby so there weren't direct casualties aside from scratches. However, everyone was scrambling about in a blind panic, and there was definitely something going on outside.

Okay. Time to get serious.

"Calm down, everyone!" His uniform knit itself into being around him as he raised his voice around the chaos. As an afterthought he gave Peter his own costume, all the better to fight crime with. "If there's a way out through the back, get away. If not, get into shelter, under tables or whatever you can find. Now!"

He wasn't sure how many of them heard him, but the few that seemed to do so took into action quickly enough. It was almost ridiculous, how easily New York had adapted to follow the rule of "when in doubt, listen to the guys dressed in primary colors and glowing lights". By his side, he heard Peter frantically speaking into his phone even as they both got up to the blown windows to survey the situation outside.

An animated plate armor. One that was at least four stories high and apparently spewing fire. What, had a particularly brave knight decided to crossbreed with a dragon somewhere along the line?

"Thanks for the save," Billy murmured as they jumped out to the street, Peter's phone disappearing wherever it was he stored things when he was in costume. "Don't think that would have let me off with just a tan."

"Spider sense is useful sometimes." Peter pressed his fingers to his palm, presumably to test the magically appearing equipment, then nodded in satisfaction as his web shooters performed as usual. "I alerted the others. For now, let's try to limit the damage, okay?"

It wasn't the worst thing Billy had ever done. He and Peter worked reasonably well together; Peter's flexible maneuvers and variable attack distance worked well with his defensive skills and free range of movement. All in all, the fight was going pretty well even though their team still hadn't gotten there.

Then the monstrosity decided to scream, and everything went downhill fast.

Peter recovered fast enough from the first shock of the ear-piercing sound, but the distraction was enough to give the armor the opportunity to burn through his web, sending him to the ground. It really wasn't fair that the thing could both scream and spit fire at the same time, Billy found himself thinking as he rushed to shield Peter while he recovered, throwing up the best shield he could in his haste. Both attacks used its mouth, right? Clearly, if any kind of fairness had been going on, it should have been restricted to only one of them at a time.

There was no fairness, though, and the flames were stronger than he'd expected now that he had to face them head on, the heat radiating even through the force field he was working so hard to keep up. Motivation and focus. Those were the cores of his magic. He had plenty of motivation here, not exactly keen on the idea of burning to death, but his focus was rather impaired by the constant noise, and he couldn't even hear himself over the screeching.

His last thought before the flames ate through his flimsy shield really should have been that at least he wouldn't be out on the field on Christmas after this. In reality, he was just cursing the fact that he hadn't at least fallen to a proper dragon like any respectable hero should have.

He thought he saw a flash of color before the pain hit, but really, that was probably just the fire.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Wiccan and Spider-Man are injured, something surprising comes to light. In the end, though, it's a merry Christmas for all, or at the very least very happy holidays.

The problem with Spider sense was, it was very much an on and off thing.

This wasn't to say there was no scale to it at all; he did get a distinctly different feeling from a prank about to be sprung on his unsuspecting self and a giant monster running rampant through Manhattan. However, there was no way of telling just what the danger in question was, no matter how useful that knowledge would have been at times.

As such, while he had thought the insistent warning at the back of his skull was for the fire that was surely about to engulf them both, it turned out to be due to the tremors vibrating through the entire street as the armor was brought down in one violent wave of power.

It might have been less painful than being turned into ashes all at once, but they didn't make it out without pain either way. There was a shockwave as the giant was brought down, throwing both him and Billy a rather impressive distance along the already abused pavement. Peter did his best to tumble with the movement, but that didn't stop his head from making contact with the ground with a rather unpleasant sound. Billy at his side seemed even more battered, unprepared as he had been, lying silent on the ground. Peter crawled closer to him even as his eyes sought the cause of the giant knight's downfall.

The explanation appeared quickly enough, in the form of two very impressive figures floating into view from behind what little remained of the monster. Magneto was there, of course, nobody else could have brought such havoc down on the giant all at once, his expression grim as the knight gave one last creaking sigh and crumbled into an even smaller pile. The other was a bright blue glow against the skyline, making Peter blink in surprise.

"Sam?"

"Nova on the field, Webhead. Seriously, you should know this by now." Sam flew to their side, getting there before Erik just as Peter reached for Billy. "How's the witch?"

"He's breathing." Which in itself was a relief. "I think he hit his head; I sure did, getting thrown about like that."

"I'd apologize, but I think things would have been even worse if we hadn't acted fast."

"No, seriously, don't. Billy's shield was just burning through; I'll take a few bruises and scratches over full-body skin grafts any day." Having established that Billy was, indeed, still alive and breathing, Peter sagged down on the ground himself. "Wow. I feel dizzy."

"I know I'm pretty damn amazing, but I don't think what was quite as swoon-worthy as that." Sam's tone was light, but even behind his helmet Peter could see a hint of a frown. "I've said this before, but maybe you should get your head checked?"

"For once, that sounds like an excellent idea." He watched as Erik floated closer to kneel by Billy, closely followed by other Avengers. The situation was handled now, he could rest for a bit, surely. "Hey, Sam?"

"Told you, it's Nova." He didn't really look annoyed, though, crouched over Peter. "What is it, idiot?"

For some reason, Peter found himself smiling. "Will you go out with me?" And, for now, it seemed like the most logical thing ever to say. Of course he would ask that, it only made sense, and it definitely made more sense than getting roasted to death by a hulking soulless knight monstrosity, so why couldn't he say it?

Sam was surprised for a second, then made to say something, but his actual words escaped Peter as his dizziness turned into tempting darkness.

At least he would wake up to hear it, now.

*

"What's the situation?" Perhaps Steve's tone was a bit harsher than necessary as he marched into the waiting room, but he suspected everyone there knew he was mostly annoyed with himself, anyway. As he well should have been. They hadn't managed to identify a threat in time, and as a result not only had there been far more collateral damage than he was comfortable with, two of his youngest team members had been injured because help had not reached them in time.

"They're both alive and breathing." Erik met him with a grim look of his own. "Peter will likely get away with a concussion; there are some minor bruises and scrapes, but nothing major. They do want to check him over properly because of the head injury, though."

"Right." Steve nodded. "And Billy?" He wasn't sure if it was a bad sign or not that Erik hadn't mentioned him yet.

"He's somewhat worse off." Teddy was still big and green, leaning against a wall in a seemingly relaxed posture that only underlined the tension visible in every line of his body. "Aside from the head injury and more minor concerns, he's got several broken bones. Haven't got the exact details yet."

"I'm sorry." Erik closed his eyes, his expression pinched. "If we had made it there with more time, we wouldn't have needed such drastic measures."

"From what I hear, if you hadn't taken those measures, my main concern at the moment would be picking a suitably tasteful urn for what little we could scratch off the pavement." Teddy shook his head. "Don't you dare apologize for saving his life."

"Erik is right, though. We all should have been there before the last possible moment." Steve glanced around. "Has anyone been in touch with Peter's aunt? I know he's told us not to worry her with minor scrapes, but after everything that managed to make it online about that fight, she'll probably be relieved to get some actual details." He'd seen some of it himself, shaky camera phone footage of the giant monstrosity and rather disturbing stills of the two heroes lying on the ground or carried by their teammates. He could only imagine how it would have looked to poor Mrs Parker.

"I called her." Sam lifted his hand as though answering a question by a teacher. For all that Steve hadn't been certain when Peter had introduced him to the Avengers, he actually seemed to have little trouble with falling into line with their team dynamics. Right now he didn't really stand apart from all the other anxious heroes gathered in the room, most of them still in their costumes. "I told her the idiot's probably going to be fine, but she insisted on coming here anyway." Steve might have chided him for speaking about a teammate in such a manner, but there was a tone of fondness in Sam's voice that mostly reminded him of the way Kate often spoke of Tommy. Well. Wasn't that interesting.

"Good." Steve sighed, running a hand over his hair. "I suppose that's the best kind of call we can ever give her." He certainly hoped he would never have to give her a personal visit. It was hard enough to constantly see the young ones in danger for following his orders.

"They'll both be fine eventually." Teddy sounded like he was mostly trying to convince himself, but there was a hint of relief in his voice nevertheless. "Billy'll even be home in time to get exasperated at all my fussing over Christmas."

"You know he'll be happy to share it with you simply because it's important to you." Steve did believe so; the two seemed to be finding a very fine balance in the traditions and cultural details they were moving on to their child. "So. What do we know about whoever was behind this?"

"It's being taken care of." Tommy appeared seemingly out of nowhere, a frown on his face and his hair a mess from running. "We tracked down this guy who is clearly off in the head, and Tony told me to get away before I bashed his face in. Which I wouldn't have done, by the way, because if I let myself punch him after what he did to my brother I'd put my fist right through his skull, and that would be far too quick an end to the bastard."

"I suppose I should thank you for your self-restraint." Okay. If Tony was handling that, Steve knew things would get done properly. Whatever he might have said at times, Tony was very reliable when it counted. "So. If there isn't —"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as the door was opened, with much more force than what Tommy had used in his entrance, assuming he had even bothered to open the door instead of phasing right through it. May Parker walked in, the very picture of righteous fury. Steve had only met her a couple of times, and she had always seemed perfectly amicable; seeing her with such an expression was almost frightening.

"So. Where is my nephew?" Her eyes locked on Steve, and she strode right towards him. "And how exactly is he, when dear Sam isn't putting a better spin on things?"

"Sam wasn't lying to you, I don't think. Peter hit his head rather hard, and they want to keep an eye on him because of that, but most likely he'll get away with nothing but a concussion. Wiccan is somewhat worse off, but all in all we're quite relieved."

May looked like she was about to say something else, but just then another voice cut in. "May?" Turning to look, Steve found that Erik had taken off his helmet, looking at May with a mixture of surprise and confusion. "Is that you?"

May spun on her heel, her eyes moving over to Erik instead. "Erik? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know. Making sure I still have as many boys as before, that sort of thing." He reached out the hand that wasn't holding his helmet, and there was something strangely tender about the gesture. "Of course. May Parker. I should have drawn the connection before."

"You are Magneto?" May took the offered hand, stepping closer, and something in her eyes made Steve feel this wasn't something he was supposed to see. "Well, I never. That helmet does conceal an awful lot."

"I suppose it does, yes." Erik's eyebrows lifted, now. "Your nephew is in law enforcement, hmm?"

"It is accurate enough, don't you think?" She mirrored his expression. "And should I perhaps assume your boys are in the team as well?"

"Wiccan and Speed. I only joined so I could be available for babysitting when necessary." Erik's expression morphed into something very close to a smile. "Well. I suppose I won't have to worry about keeping secrets any longer, then."

"It is quite a relief, yes." Again, she returned his expression, though her smile was more obvious. "So I have you to thank for keeping Peter alive?"

"No thanks are necessary. I've currently been busy beating myself up because we weren't fast enough to handle the situation without causing them any further harm."

"Wait. Wait wait wait." It probably made sense that Tommy was the one to break the silence the rest of the gathered team had fallen into. "You're dating Spidey's aunt? Really? This is your secret affair?"

"You do make it sound so sordid." Erik glanced at Tommy, then back at May. "But yes, it does appear so. For the record, though, we met quite by chance."

"So Billy was right?" Teddy breathed, sounding shocked. "You actually are dating someone?"

"Well, duh." Sam rolled his eyes, because Tommy couldn't possibly be the only one on the team with a complete lack of respect for his elders. "You can't imagine how difficult it has been to juggle giving them both hints without giving it away entirely. Hilarious, mind, and kind of heartwarming that they'd connect even without knowing their most obvious common point, but still difficult."

"Wait, you knew about this?" Tommy's voice rose a bit higher, almost to a hysteric level. "About both of them?"

"Yeah, I did. Put it together pretty much as soon as I was introduced to Erik and he matched May's admirer exactly. So, you know, you didn't have the biggest secret after all." Sam's face broke into a wide grin. "Which is precisely why the smartest guy on the team asked me on a date, not you."

At this point, things collapsed into something of a mess. By the time it had been established that Sam meant Peter and not Tony, and there indeed was some secret dating going on, and then that Peter indeed only had a concussion and even Billy would get home once they had taken care of his broken bones and made sure his head injury wasn't anything worse, Erik and May had quite deftly disentangled themselves from the conversation and found seats in the corner of the room, talking quietly to each other.

As they shared a relieved embrace at the good news about the boys' injuries, all Steve could think of was how excited Billy was going to be once he heard about this.

*

It was, May decided, a very pleasant Christmas.

Peter was home, freed from any superhero obligations for the day thanks to their little arrangement. He also brought the news that Billy was feeling much better now, though he was rather upset about the fact his broken arm stopped him from holding his little daughter. Teddy was quite happy to take care of them both, though, and was especially delighted that Billy would be around to share Peggy's first Christmas experience for all that Billy himself gave little importance to such things.

May had no doubt Billy would find some joy in it as well. She just hoped that joy would live on through the years when Peggy was actually old enough to realize the absolute importance of waking up early on Christmas morning.

Peter was thankfully grown up now, and actually waited until a decent hour. They enjoyed a very nice and peaceful morning and day, one that wasn't much dampened by the news reports of some of the Avengers teaming up with Iron Fist and The Thing to take down a horrific sea creature that threatened the peaceful day. Peter cheered on his friends as though he had been watching an exciting sports match, and even managed to hold back on his usual urge of going out to join them, while May, armed with her new knowledge, paid a lot more attention than usual as she saw Magneto quite deftly handling huge bars of steel with as much ease as Erik did his knitting needles.

Really, she should have put two and two together a lot sooner. Especially given his rather unique color sense, for all that the gloves he had gifted her with were a very pleasant shade of green.

The heroes were victorious, of course, nothing else would have done on such a good day. If Peter was rather visibly relieved as Nova flew unharmed out of the wreckage that had engulfed him moments before, well, May wasn't going to tell.

Shortly before they sat down for the dinner, though, there was a knock at the door. Peter seemed surprised, but May merely smiled at him.

"It's about time they showed up. Could you be a dear and get the door? I'll finish setting the table."

Peter blinked, but did as he was told; he was such a good boy when he wasn't sneaking around with something devious in mind. May took the opportunity to set two more places around the table as she heard the surprised sounds from the door.

Erik walked in a moment later, looking a bit uncomfortable; May might have been offended, but Peter's delay in reappearing gave her some hint as to what caused his expression. "Ah. Happy holidays," Erik said, presenting her with a very nice bottle of wine. "I apologize for not being here earlier, we were somewhat delayed by sudden duties."

"Oh, please don't apologize." She took the bottle from him, then leaned in for a quick kiss. "Your taking on that duty means I've had Peter here all day without having to feel either guilt or worry. I really will have to get Tony something nice for this idea of his."

"It does seem to have been received with some pleasure, yes." Erik glanced over his shoulder. "I'd go and get the young ones, but frankly I'm somewhat afraid to."

Peter and Sam did show up shortly enough, with just a hint of blush on Peter's face and a grin on Sam's, and really, it was a delight to see. She had long since thought of Sam as another member of the family; if Peter ever wanted to make that official she'd only be delighted, and for the time being they could at least make each other happy.

It was a wonderful dinner, with the boys still trying out the boundaries of their new relationship with brief interludes of falling back into their usual interaction, while she and Erik shared somewhat more peaceful conversation. It was good to see how much more open Erik seemed now; it wasn't like there was a lot he had left unsaid before, and even now their battle was covered with just a few sentences, but the mere fact that they didn't have to hold back any more secrets did wonders to relax them both. All in all, it was a very successful evening, especially since Peter was too distracted by his new—found interest in Sam to get too uncomfortable about seeing her being affectionate with Erik.

And if someone never made it back to the Tower that night, well, that wasn't anyone's business but theirs, now was it?


End file.
